Ridgewood BOE to push for higher pay for superintendent

In coming weeks, the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) will likely support a resolution, to be drafted by trustee Michele Lenhard, asking the state to reconsider the rigidity of its superintendent salary cap.

Citing the unintended consequences of the cap, including the greater difficulty to replace superintendents who have resigned, Lenhard proposed the resolution at last Monday's BOE meeting.

After the meeting, Lenhard told The Ridgewood News that the BOE would likely be advocating for a "waiver application" with the resolution.

"It's a resolution that would go before the New Jersey School Board [Association's] Delegate Assembly," said Lenhard, who will present a resolution draft to the board in a public meeting next week. "It would give them a position ... We would be requesting them to oppose it, but I don't know what would happen at the end of the day."

According to Lenhard, it is possible that legislators might consider a waiver application for school districts that want to offer their superintendents higher pay - a possibility she said would be "a real positive step to increase flexibility."

Established by the governor in 2010, the salary cap states that in school districts the size of Ridgewood, with 3,000 to 10,000 students, the superintendent can receive a salary of around $170,000 per year.

That means that when his contract expires on June 30, 2013, Superintendent Dan Fishbein, who has expressed interest in staying in the position, will either need to take a significant pay cut or seek work elsewhere. He currently receives a base salary of more than $220,000.

A maximum additional merit bonus of 15 percent is possible, said Lenhard, but it requires the BOE to meet several steps, including making goals and demonstrating how the superintendent met those goals.

"I feel we're being restricted," she said. "There's no cost-of-living adjustments ... When you reach the top, that's the end."

As a result of the proposal, several superintendents have already left their districts, some seeking work in nearby states.

According to a press release issued Oct. 19 by the New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA), nearly a third of school districts changed superintendents in the 2011-2012 school year.

Noting that the turnover rate was the highest the organization has encountered in 11 years of monitoring superintendent employment, the NJSBA said the turnover rate was likely "compounded" by the salary cap. Most superintendents retired, but in 19 percent of cases, the superintendent swapped districts.

In the 2008-2009 school year, the turnover rate was 20.5 percent, according to the NJSBA data.

In recent years, Bergen County has experienced a particularly high turnover rate, likely because of its proximity to New York, Lenhard said.

Glen Rock is one example of a local district still searching for a new permanent superintendent since the salary cap came into effect. After the early retirement last spring of then-superintendent David Verducci, who cited a desire to spend more time with family, the Glen Rock district hired interim Superintendent Ray Albano. In a surprise announcement Monday, Albano said he will resign from the post on Feb. 8.

"I would do a little more work and bring something to you to evaluate," Lenhard said at Monday's meeting to her fellow BOE members, asking if they would support her drafting a resolution to prompt more discussion at the state level. "I don't think that we have to prove an issue."

BOE President Sheila Brogan and a few other trustees voiced their approval.